The Smell of NAPM in the Morning
by Dust2Dust17
Summary: A spinoff of RWBY: Stolen Innocence. As RWBY and JNPR's second year begins, so does the first year for a whole new crop of prospective students, which happens to include one familiar face in its numbers.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey lads and lasses! Dust here with a bit of a spinoff story I've got going on now. For those of you who read the most notorious of my works so far, RWBY: Stolen Innocence, I think you know what this may be. If you haven't, you're not going to understand what I'm about to explain.**

 **Towards the very end of SI, Neo revealed that after Roman turned himself in as part of a plea bargain with the Huntsmen and the Atlesian Military, Ozpin was able to pull some strings and reduce his sentence. Also, in a surprising twist, he also allowed her to enroll into Beacon Academy just in time for the new year. That's what this story is going to be about. It's going to start sometime between the week-long timeskip in the final chapter so sit back, strap in if you're reading this in your car or on a plane, relax, and enjoy.**

 **P.S: Also, big shoutout to dfinkel70 for the development of the members of Neo's team, who we'll be meeting shortly. He helped come up with them, so in a way, these are his characters I'll be writing about. I hope I do them justice.**

* * *

A pair of mismatched eyes looked out over the bay with a hint of nervousness behind them. She had felt like this before: when she was first brought to her new home, during her first job with Roman, even working up the courage to bring that information from nine months ago to the very place the airship she was on was headed. She had learned to call it home for nearly a year since the events that took place and finally ended a few months prior to today, but the castle in the distance almost felt...alien to her.

"Neo?"

She turned to face the girl calling her name. Bright silver eyes looked into her nervous brown and pink ones. "Kinda nervous for your first day, huh?" Ruby asked. Neo nodded shakily, not resorting to reaching for her voicebox to speak her answer. Ruby carefully got up, taking care of the bundle in her arms that held her days-old son, a byproduct of a nightmare she was far past letting control her. "Look, I was in the same boat as you last year. You're going to a new school and you have no idea what's going to happen and nobody knows who you are. I'm completely terrified myself." she chuckled. "I've got a baby now and no idea what a second year at Beacon after what we all just went through is going to be like, but I'm still going to face it head-on and try my best. What about you?"

Neo mulled over the advice before another few perked up.

"Hey, look! There it is!"

"It's alot shinier than I expected."

"Woah, it's huge!"

They all exclaimed as they got their first looks at Beacon Academy, the illustrious castle-like structure that the Huntsman and Huntresses of tomorrow spent years honing their craft in to protect and serve the people of Remnant. Neo had seen it countless times from heights like this, but it still was a sight to behold as alot of prospective students ready to study here were already realizing.

Another sound ended their attention towards the windows and to a series of holographic projectors at the center of the passenger area of the ferry that were spread out periodically across the length of the floor. Another familiar face to Neo and some certain individuals on the ferry along with her appeared upon them. "Good afternoon everyone. My name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch, the dean of Beacon Academy. The facility you will be landing at momentarily has trained heroes and heroines for generations to keep the last lines of humanity's defense safe, and we only accept the best of the best. We sincerely hope that you are it." she explained, punctuating the explaination by adjusting her glasses on her nose. "All first year students will meet in the auditorium of the main building, while second through fourth years shall await their orientation until tomorrow. They may go to the boarding offices for information on where they will be staying for the next year."

"Where we'll be staying?" Ruby thought aloud. "Don't we have a dorm already?"

"I talked to Coco already. Turns out upperclassmen get an upgrade! Yang said cheerfully as she burst in out of nowhere and bringing Neo and Ruby into a sudden hug, startling her nephew as the sound of a baby's crying echoed throughout the cabin, a few annoyed murmurs coming from the crowd, only to be relieved as the ship met the docking bay that allowed the passengers to file out and into the main path that lead to Beacon Academy from the landing pads. As Neo and the Rose-Xiao Long sisters stepped out, they noticed a group of other ferries letting off other passengers, the docking bay at the one behind their ferry showcasing the familiar sight of a certain knight with his head in a trashcan, retching from the airsickness. Only this time, a redheaded Spartan woman was behind him, trying to soothe him by rubbing his back as he threw up his breakfast into the can.

"Vomit Boy lives up to his name again!" Yang chuckled as she waved them over once Jaune was certain he finished. They both gave huge smiles as they ran over to meet them.

"Ruby! Yang! Aren't you two a sight for sore eyes!" Pyrrha smiled as she gave them both a warm hug, the champion being extra careful not to crush tiny baby Thorn as she hugged the younger of the two.

"You brought Thorn along with you?" Jaune asked.

"Of course I did! Ozpin said it wouldn't be wise to separate us since he was just born a few days ago, so he's going to set something up to make sure he's watched after while we're here!" Rube explained, tickling his feet and illiciting a tiny giggle from the infant.

"Well, that's very generous of him." Pyrrha noted, before realizing there was a third person she hadn't greeted. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm sorry, Neo! I didn't see you there!"

The near-mute waived off the notion that she had been offended, reaching for her voicebox on the tip of her parasol and bringing it up to her throat. "It's nice to see you again too, Pyrrha." she nodded. "Even if it's only been three days since we last saw each other."

"I bet you're excited to experience your first year here, huh?" Jaune asked, the ice cream-themed freshman nodding to answer. "Well good luck during initiation!"

"We'd love to stay and chat, Neo, but you've got an orientation meeting to go to." Ruby noted, pointing to the large clock on Ozpin's tower.

"Yeah, we don't want you late on your first day." Yang encouraged. "Besides, we gotta go find our new pad anyway."

"Wait, where am I supposed to go?" Neo asked.

"You know where the auditorium is, silly!" Ruby giggled. "I know you're still nervous, but this first day is easy. You just listen to what Professor Ozpin has to say, then go to bed in the ballroom. Tomorrow's when the work begins!" she finished as she turned to face the others. "So where's everybody else?"

"Ren texted me during the flight over. Weiss, Blake, Nora and him are already at the dorm offices." Jaune answered.

"Then let's go meet up! Good luck, Neo!" Yang cheered as she and the rest waived their friend goodbye. Neo gave a slight wave back as her smile faded. She looked forlorn at the monolithic tower in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she took her first step to changing who she was and become a Huntress.

"Here goes nothing." she thought as she looked around, not noticing as she bumped into something hard in front of her than knocked her onto her behind. Looking up, she noticed a literal wall of a man in front of her with what appeared to be a giant metal column slung over his back. He wore a light purple windbreaker over a bulletproof vest with what appeared to be an unprimed rocket slung onto it. He turned to face her with narrowed eyes that matched the color of his jacket.

"Did you just bump into me?" he asked in a low, intimidating voice. Neo could only look up at him in complete shock, unable to even try and apologize as she was unsure what he was about to do. What ended up occuring next completely baffled her.

"Oh, well, I have to say I'm really sorry! I shouldn't have stopped in the middle of a path like that. Are you okay?"

Neo couldn't believe he suddenly went from one of the toughest looking people she had seen to such an apologetic person. She nodded as she took his outstretched, baseball mitt-sized hand, and was nearly shot back to her feet by a strong pull upwards.

"Well, once again, I'm really sorr-"

"HEY MAVE!"

A shrill male voice coming from a much more scrawny boy half the giant's size, wearing a long trench coat over a royal blue shirt, grabbed both of their attention. "You just gonna stand there and hold hands with some little girl, or are you gonna follow me to wherever the hell we're supposed to be headed?"

"Um, how am I supposed to follow you if you don't know where we're even headed, Percy?" the giant called Mave asked back.

Percy took a moment to think of his answer before responding with a simple expletive. "Well, fuck." he grumbled before turning to the multi-colored haired girl his friend was with. "You, you know where we're supposed to be going?"

Neo simply nodded and pointed straight ahead at the path. Without even so much as a thank you, the much ruder boy called Percy began walking in that direction.

"I apologize. He can tend to be...lacking in the manners department sometimes." Mave chuckled as he walked off behind him, Neo still by his side. "...You're a quiet girl. May I ask who you are?" he asked. With a snap of her fingers, Neo then motioned for the giant to check his pocket. He reached in, fumbling with a folded piece of paper he was confused with how it ended up in there. Upon opening it, he got his answer in cursive writing: "Neo Politan. It's nice to meet you too."

"Mave! You and your new lady friend better hurry up!" Percy called as the two picked up the pace from their leisurely stroll to a quicker walking speed as they made their way to the auditorium.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! So it's safe to say this story's been on hiatus since...well, since it was first uploaded. That's why I'm gonna try to alternate between this and Broken Home to get both finished soon enough, and probably keep this from being updated faster than a few months time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I'll see you lads and lasses around.**

* * *

With some direction from Neo, being already familiarized with Beacon's surroundings and layout, the group of three joined the rest of Beacon's prospective first year students in the main auditorium, as many others have done in the past at this time of year. Already inside stood dozens of others looking for entry into the academy as well. Mave and Perry looked around in awe of the giant room, where the crowd stood in front of the stage awaiting what was supposed to happen next.

"So, we're here now. Later." the one called Percy shrugged, rather rudely, as he went to find a good spot to stand in front of the stage.

"I apologize for his behavior, Neo." Mave bowed as his friend walked off ahead of them. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

With a nod, Neo walked alongside the gentle giant, trying to find their way to Perry through the others around them. It didn't take long before they did, coming across him talking with another girl with in a yellow tracksuit and two swords over her back. She seemed to be rolling her golden eyes at his attempt to sway her, which sounded to be exaggerated tales of his skills, at least to Mave as they got closer.

"...Yeah, back at Signal, I was top of the class. I could probably take a Kaiju Kong with my bare hands if I wanted." Perry boasted.

"Wow, I'd never expect to meet such a big strong upcoming Huntsman on my first day here." she replied, sarcasm thick in her voice to the oblivious blue-haired boy.

"Ah, it's nothing. Ask anybody I know; they'll tell you the same, like Mave here." Percy gestured to the newly arriving boy and grimaced as he noticed Neo had followed them over. The other girl, however, seemed to take quite the interest in the newly arriving boy.

"Is he bothering you at all with his exaggerated tales, Miss?" Mave asked, only to be elbowed in the side by his friend.

"Mave, what the hell, dude?" he seethed through his teeth. Neo couldn't help but giggle at his reaction.

"Oh, it's perfectly fine." she waved off with a sultry smile that Neo couldn't help but be reminded of Cinder from its style. "I've had to deal with worse back home in Vacuo." she boasted, running a finger across Mave's chest. "So, you got a name, big guy?"

"Maverick Orchid." the giant bowed. "You seem to have already made the acquaintance of my friend, Percy van Winkle."

"Mave, you're cramping my style here, pal." Percy grumbled.

"Oh, grow up, Blue Boy. You've got a girl more your size anyway right here." she joked, pointing over to Neo, who was in the middle of breaking off her voicebox from the tip of her parasol and bringing it to her neck, the illusion fading from her neck and revealing her scar once again.

"Please, there's no way he's my type." Neo joked back.

"So you do speak." Mave noted.

"Only to call it like I see it." Neo chuckled as the three laughed at Percy's expense, the blue-spiky haired boy sulking at the fun being made of him.

"Wow, Percy. Even the girl with the stoma wouldn't want your d-"

"AHEM"

Whatever their new friend was bound to say next was cut off as the sound of an echoing voice filled the auditorium. All eyes turned forward to face the stage as Professor Ozpin stood in front of the microphone, his assistant, Glynda Goodwitch herself, standing off to the side as she surveyed the crowd with the watchful eyes of a hawk.

"I'm going to be blunt with you all." the green-suited headmaster spoke. "We live in quite dangerous times at the moment. We all have memories of the siege of Vale that ended four months ago. In order to prevent such an attack on our way of life on that scale again, we need only the best. You come from all walks of life and from all corners of Remnant. You were considered the best out of your classes at your previous academies, but here, those grades are a thing of the past. Here, the slate is clean, and you start your first true step into the Huntsman lifestyle. As I previously stated, out of the hundred of you here today, we sincerely hope you are it."

With that, he stepped away from the microphone and towards the exit of the stage as Glynda replaced him. "Your initiation will begin tomorrow at dawn. For the time being, you will spend the night in the ballroom. Dinner is at seven, then straight to bed afterwards." she explained before leaving the prospective students to their own devices.

"Sooo...is that it?" Percy asked.

"At least we understand what we're going to do next." Neo counterpointed before reattaching her artificial voicebox to its slot on her parasol.

"Well, I dunno about you three, but I'm gonna go claim my spot in the ballroom before everyone else. Good luck tomorrow!" the yellow-suited girl waived as she turned to leave.

"Oh, wait!" Mave stopped before she walked away. "We didn't catch your name."

"Is it required that I tell you it?" she asked.

"It'd be nice." Percy grumbled, still annoyed from the teasing from earlier.

She laughed. "Alright, shorty. You earned it. It's Riala. Riala Zephyr." With that said, she turned to leave, letting alone the group of three along with some others unsure what to do until curfew time.

"...I'm pretty sure I'm taller than her..." Perry mumbled before turning back to his friends.

"So, should we do the same?" the lavender-haired giant suggested.

"Ah, c'mon, Mave! We've got the whole rest of the day to check out our new place! We'll have plenty of time to get a good spot later tonight." Percy encouraged.

* * *

"So..." Neo started as she, Maverick and Percy sat up against one of the walls of the ballroom. After looking around the academy with Neo's guidance, the group found they came to the ballroom a bit late. The only spots they could find open were a drafty area between an air vent and the front door. "...Best spot in the whole room, right guys?"

"Just...just shut up, Neo." Percy shivered, even under his blue long-sleeved shirt and pajama pants.

"I told you to pack at least a blanket in case we needed it." Maverick spoke from under the sheet he brought with him from home.

"Th-That goes double for you, Mave!" Percy snapped as he grabbed his overcoat and tried to use that to stay warm. Neo was doing her best with the same tactic, using hers to stay warm under her coat with just a spare set of pajamas gifted to her by Ruby, a portion of the gift from all the work she did to help her bring Cinder, Timber, and all the criminals under her employ to justice. The fleece pants and the wool top were warm, but not enough to protect her from the draft and the cool early autumn air. She was expecting it to be a long few hours until dawn, where they could get a warm shower in before the initiation ceremony. What she wasn't expecting was a thick scratchy blanket to be dropped on top of their heads.

"Hey!" a voice called from above them in a harsh whisper. Looking up, Neo came face to face with a girl looking down on them from the balcony above with a pixie cut of burning red hair and golden eyes. "You guys looked cold down there. We've got room for a few more up here if ya want!"


	3. Chapter 3

As the three ascended the stairs to the balcony, the scent of ethanol heating cans burning started to their reach their noses. Upon reaching the top, the redhead from before waived them over as she sat around a camping stove with three others. One was a large, dark-skinned man stirring the pot on top of the stove while another girl with red hair pulled into a bun was cleaning her weapons, which appeared to be two tonfas. Another boy with copper hair was sitting by watching the pot cook before all three turned to face the new arrivals.

"You actually invited more people up here? The point was to have this space all to ourselves, Amber." The other redhead complained, glaring down the three as they entered.

"Hey, there's enough room for everybody here already." Amber shrugged as she motioned for them to take some spots around the cooking stove. As they laid their sleeping mats down, Neo gave a polite nod to the redhead that welcomed them up to the balcony in the first place.

"Thank you for the hospitality." Mave greeted, bowing his head to the group.

"Yeah, we were freezing our asses off down there." Percy added.

"Well, this should warm ya right up!" The burly young man stirring the pot said in a southern droll as he dipped a ladle in and poured the dark liquid inside into a set of cups everyone picked up and began to drink out of. Within the first swig, Percy immediately spat out the whatever he just tried to ingest. Most of everyone there besides Amber and the cook had similar reactions of disgust. "What? It's just hot chocolate."

"Did you get dirt in place of chocolate?" the other redhead criticized.

"I hate to agree, but she's right, Albert. This is extremely bitter." the copper-headed boy agreed.

"I've had this since I was young. It's a family recipe!" Albert defended.

"Hey, screw what these guys think. I like it." Amber shrugged as she took another sip from her cup before turning to Neo and her two new friends. "Oh yeah, forgot to introduce myself." she apologized as she shoved a callused hand towards the mute girl. "The name's Amber."

"It's a pleasure, Amber." Mave answered for Neo, who was fumbling in her pajama pants pocket for her voicebox with her free hand while shaking. "That's Neo you're shaking hands with, I'm Maverick, and that's Percy." he finished, pointing to the blue-haired boy still spitting the taste off his tongue into his unfinished cup of hot chocolate.

"Yeah, hi, nice to meet you guys, but I'm gonna be the responsible one and not stay up drinking the rest of the night." Percy shrugged as he moved to lie down on his side, facing the copper-haired teen next to him engaging in the horrifying event of pulling his own arms off. "WHAT THE HELL?" Percy shrieked as he jumped out of his sleeping mat.

"Oh, sorry." the now-armless teen apologized. "I should've probably let you know these were prosthetics."

"Dale here had ta get his arms amputated from some muscular disease he had as a kid." Albert explained. "It freaked me out a bit too when he first did it while we shared a dorm back at Torch Academy."

"You guys are from Vacuo?" Neo asked, finally pulling her voicebox to her throat.

"Not me." the other redheaded girl spoke up. "I came from Mistral."

"Really now? Whereabouts?" Mave asked.

"What's it matter to you?" she asked rather rudely.

"Iris, be nice." Amber scolded. "She and I came from this island in the center of the continent. I'm guessing you're Mistralian too?"

"Well, I was born there. I moved to Vale with my family when I was seven." Mave answered. "I met Percy through going to Signal Academy."

"That's sounds pretty cool." Dale nodded. "What about you? Neo, was it? Where'd you go to school?"

Neo was about to open her mouth, but it just reminded her about her past. Orphaned, trained to be an assassin, turned traitor just about a year ago. Luckily, it didn't seem like any of them recognized her from the wanted posters she and Roman were plastered on across most of the bulletin boards across the city of Vale, so she decided to tell the truth, but keep it vague. "I didn't go to school. My father trained me from home."

"Really, now?" Amber said with intrigue. "Must've been a good teacher to get you into here."

"Yeah...He was." Neo nodded, a smile wavering a bit. It must have been noticeable from the next response she got.

"Um, did we bring up something we shouldn't have?" Dale asked.

"If it's too personal, we're sorry, Neo." Amber apologized.

"N-no, I'm just tired is all." Neo lied. "Percy's right. We should probably get some sleep.

"Nice suggestion. We need some rest for tomorrow anyway." Dale agreed.

"Well then, g'night everyone!" Albert smiled as he flicked off the camping stove, who's burner flame was the only light at the moment besides the shattered moon shining through the window. As everyone laid their heads down to rest, Neo took a long look out the city in the distance through the large window behind them. She spent most of her life out there, both in the slums and in the many hideouts Roman kept in the more inconspicuous places around the city. Now, she was about to take her first step out of the shadows and into the light officially. She was only a defector out of the disgust of how Cinder's partnership with the White Fang was managed. Now she'd be truly considered one of the good guys; wiping the slate clean. It scared her, but the thought of it was also exciting. She finally set her head down on the pillow she fashioned out of her folded-up jacket and decided to get some rest for the coming day, finally shutting her heterochromatic eyes as sleep overtook her.

* * *

"Hey, wake up."

Neo was unceremoniously awoken with a sandpaper-like heel being poked at her back rather roughly. Being so rudely interrupted from her slumber, she turned to find the other girl from last night, Iris, standing over her. She was dressed in her combat attire that consisted of a bluish-violet skintight jumpsuit with a short purple skirt around her waist held against her by a holster belt for her tonfas. Over that was a grey hoodie and a set of headphones around her neck. The shoes she wore looked like worn out sneakers with roller blade wheels folded onto the inside of them.

"You just gonna sit there or what?" Iris asked again. "The initiation starts in ten minutes. You already missed breakfast."

Neo's eyes went white and widened as she grabbed her voicebox. "What? Why didn't anybody wake me up?" she cried.

"That Maverick guy wanted to, but his little shithead of a friend pulled him off before he could." Iris explained, as she reached down to pull her to her feet. "Now get up if you-" she started. She would've finished her thought if the shorter girl didn't shatter into pieces at her touch. "What the?"

"Okay, ready."

Iris turned to the stairway to find Neo already set, pulling her jacket on to accompany her high-heeled boots, leather pants, and undershirt. Her parasol now in hand as she motioned for Iris to follow her. The bitter girl could only blink as she took in the fact what just happened. Before shaking out of it, she followed her out. "Interesting semblance." she muttered before a sly smirk met her face as she used her own.

In a flash, Neo felt something speed by her before, in the blink of an eye, Iris now stood in front of her at the door. "Race ya there, kid." Iris smirked as the skate wheels on the inside of her shoes folded into place and she skated off. With a pout, Neo ran off after her, silently praying she wouldn't be late.

* * *

 **Just a little note before I end this here. After the past recent few episodes of RWBY, I notice there's a few characters introduced in this chapter that share similarities to the canon Amber and Mercury as of now. (I.E., being named Amber and having two artificial limbs.) I just want to say the characters of this story have been in concept for a while before these episodes were released. I'm not one of those writers who immediately changes the canon of their story because of new developments in a character in the real show, or introduces someone new because there's a possibility of someone like him or her showing up in the show.  
**

 **Dunno if it even matters or not, but I felt like getting that out in the open. Be sure to leave a follow or comment; I read all of my reviews, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

"It shouldn't be taking her this long to get ready, should it?" Mave asked as he looked down the path to the school from the cliff they had taken to the overlook of the massive forest below them.

"How should I know?" Percy shrugged, not entirely interested at his friend's care for his new acquaintance. "We've known her less than a day. I'm not familiar with her morning routine."

Mave narrowed his eyes at how nonchalant his companion was as he said that. "You didn't wake her, did you?" he accused.

"So what if I didn't?" Percy shrugged defensively. "I'm not that kid's babysitter."

"Percy, anyone who doesn't show up for the initiation test in time automatically gets sent back home!" Maverick explained. "She's the only one that isn't here yet!"

"Actually, neither is Iris..." Amber said as she walked over across the cliff face towards them through a crowd of other prospective students with her combat attire on. She wore a bronze tank top with a plaid jacket tied around her waist, jeans and running shoes. She looked more ready to go to a party in a rural area than into a Grimm-infested forest were it not for the crossbow slung over her back. "I expected her to be one of the first ones here after we left the cafeteria."

"Well, here's hoping they hurry." Mave said, turning back to the path back to the school. He and Amber sighed in relief as they saw the two of their missing friends running up the path, Iris skidding to a stop in front of them as Neo followed up, panting.

"Oh, uh...glad you made it in time." Percy lied. Mave gave Neo's reply for him in the form of a dope slap on the back of his head, as if the extension of her middle finger towards the blue-haired boy wasn't enough. "Ow! Mave!"

"She's lucky I woke her up for you. She was still on the mat when I found her." Iris explained.

"Thank you again, by the way." Neo sighed as she caught her breath, speaking into her voicebox.

"I knew you'd be nicer to them, Iris." Amber smiled.

"Come on, Am. It's not like I care about them or anything." Iris huffed. "I just think everyone should get the chance to enter the school."

"Well, you'll all have your chance." Everyone turned to face Professor Ozpin, who had probably overheard their conversation as he and Glynda walked over , taking position in front of the prospective first years and facing away from the cliff.

"If you would all please take positions on these plates on the cliff edge, we can get started." Goodwitch ordered, gesturing to the line of metal plates on the ground embedded with the academy insignia. Each student took their place on the launch pads, Neo ending up between Mave and the Riala girl they met yesterday. Percy stood on Mave's other side, followed by Iris, Amber, Al, and Dale before the rest of the initiates took up the remaining spots.

"I must reiterate," Ozpin began. "The path a Huntsman must take is more than skill and strength. It takes willpower, tenacity, and most importantly, cooperation. We, as teachers, cannot help you throughout your career, but today, we'll assist you in making that first step."

Glynda stepped forward, tablet in hand with the image of a Bullhead dropship sitting among the ruins of an old temple. "The woods you see below us, for those of you who don't know, is the Emerald Forest. At the north end, an aircraft carrying highly valuable items crashed after coming into contact with Nevermores." she explained. Of course, the ship in the picture was perfectly intact, planted there for a training exercise. "Your task is that each of you, in groups of two, must recover at least one of these items and return it to the cliff above the temple before sunset."

"Sounds simple enough.." Percy murmured to his larger friend.

"What happens if we don't make it to the rendezvous point by sunset, Professor?" Amber asked.

"Those who fail to make partners or make it back to the cliffs by sunset will automatically be disqualified from their first year." Glynda said, rather coldly in fact even for her.

"Wait, seriously?" Al thought aloud.

"Me and my big mouth..." Percy cursed.

"Now, if there's not any more questions, we can begin." Ozpin announced.

"Wait, Professor, what about our partners? Do we just pair up now, or-?" Riala asked for clarification.

"Ah, yes." Ozpin remembered, wordlessly thanking the girl for the reminder. "For partners, the first person you make eye contact with in the forest will be your partner for the entirety of your time here at Beacon." A near-silent murmur went through the crowd of prospective students, some life long friends trying to make last minute plans to stay together. Percy was one of them, eyeing Maverick nervously. The last thing he wanted was to be split up with his best friend.

"Now then, we're burning daylight, so we shall begin without further questions." Ozpin said, turning to face the forest. "And remember, after landing, make sure not to hesitate to kill anything in your path between here and your objective, or you will perish."

"Like the church thing?" Percy asked.

"That's a parish." Amber answered.

"Or to care for something?"

"That's to cherish." Mave answered for him."

"Wait, Professors..." Dale began to ask, not hearing the safety on his plate click off. "What did you mean by landIIIIIIIINGGGG!" he started to ask before being launched into the air by the spring-loaded plate he stood on.

"Ah guess that answers THAAAAAATT!" Al replied similarly as he was launched next. One by one, Glynda randomly began launching students to try and mix up the lot and diversify the future pairings. This gave some students waiting for their turn to be launched the time they needed to prepare themselves for their turn. Neo braced herself as Riala's clicked into place, the silver-haired girl drawing her twin katanas and keeping them pointed downwards at her sides as she soared into the air.

"See you on the other side, Neo." Amber winked as she was launched next. Three more went after her, including Percy and Iris, before she felt her plate click into place. This was it: her first step into the life of a Huntress. In an instant, she was airborne, feeling weightless and wind rushing into her face as she whipped through the air at breakneck speed for a moment before gravity began to drag her back towards the forest. Using her parasol to soften her descent, she lightly drifted below the treetops before folding it as she landed on a branch. Ready to hop down to ground level, she crouched down to get a leaping start to her free-running, only for her to learn the branch she stood on wasn't as sturdy as she thought, it breaking off with a loud crack and sending both parties plummeting with a loud crack. Neo let out a soundless yelp as she tucked herself into a ball to cushion herself from the fall, only to have a softer landing than she expected to take from landing on the forest floor. Be that as it may, it still hurt from the impact as she landed on her bottom on top of whatever was underneath her.

"Ugh...could you get your ass off my head please?"

Or whoever.

Scrambling to stand back up and reach for her voicebox to apologize, Neo stopped herself as she realized who she landed on, as well as her human crash pad looking at who landed on top of him.

"Well, this is just fucking great." Percy grumbled.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, this is just fucking great!" Percy exclaimed again as he paced around in a circle on the forest floor.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely happy about this arrangement either." Neo replied through her voicebox, letting him finish as he repeated himself for the forth time in a row since the girl landed atop him.

Percy sighed as he came to a stop and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This was not what I wanted to happen...Look, I don't like you, and you don't like me, right?" he asked.

"Well, I tolerate you-" Neo started.

"How about this? We split up, meet new partners, nobody has to know?" Percy suggested before a loud buzzing overhead caught their attention. Looking up, both took notice of the drone hovering above their position. A camera mounted on its bottom was pointed at them, and with Neo's keen eyesight, she could tell it was focused on them.

"I think somebody has to know by now." Neo deadpanned.

* * *

"Well, fuck." Percy growled as he turned on his heel and began walking away, Neo following him.

"Remind me to reprimand him for the foul language." Goodwitch noted, watching the drone's camera feed. The teachers had sent out drones to keep tabs on the initiates for the test, and it just so happened the first team they found together was them.

"So our first team is Miss Politan and Mister von Winkle?" Ozpin asked.

"So it seems." The platinum blonde sighed. "I do feel for her though. According to his transcripts, Mister von Winkle here seems a tad too brash to be a perfect teammate for the girl."

"Perhaps opposites will attract in this case." Ozpin theorized, turning to his old friend with a smirk. "It certainly worked in our favor back in our initiation day."

She rolled her eyes before the flash of light on her Scroll caught her attention. "It seems we have our next pair forming." she announced, enlarging the drone feed screen for easier viewing.

* * *

"Gah...stupid vines..." Dale grumbled as he tried to wriggle his way out of a tangled mess of vines in a swampier area of the forest, hanging above a pond that was nothing but mud and scum. The young man was caught by his armpits, vines snaking their way around his prosthetic arms, under one of his legs, and draping over his chest. Finally noticing a way to get free, he twisted his arm to move into a better position to do so, a metallic click sounded off in his prosthesis' joint. "Uh oh." he mouthed as he suddenly fell away from his ensnared arms, rolling out of the vines tangled around his body on the way down, but leaving the double amputee down an arm. He grumbled to himself as he looked up at where he fell from. His left arm was still dangling from the vines overhead, caught by its wrist in a knot. "As if this could get any worse."

As if on cue, he turned to the sound of sloshing muck behind him, as if something was charging through the mess of the swamp. Sure enough, a large lizard-like Grimm, running at him on all four legs at a speed not many living creatures could traverse through swamp water and mud. Letting out a loud hiss, it shot a viscous ball of green fluid at Dale, the target rolling out of the way to dodge it as it splattered against the tree he stood in front of, cringing as he noticed the wad of goop the creature spat at him started to dissolve the wood of the tree. "Well, don't wanna touch that stuff..." Dale thought as he reached for the side of his cargo shorts that holstered half of his weapon. Taking one of the bracers in his currently only hand, he cocked his arm back as the Stalker charged him again. This time, he slammed its jaw shut before it could spit with an uppercut before trying to kick it aside. It recovered fairly quickly as the Grimm swung a spike covered tail at him. Dale barely blocked it as he was knocked back by the hit into the tree again, only to duck aside once more as another acidic spitball splattered overhead, this one burning through the already corroded wood to the point the trunk gave way. Noticing the vines fell with the tree, Dale made a dive for his other arm, reattaching it and readying his other bracer. After a few more landed hits, one stunning the giant salamander-esque Grimm, Dale interlocked the two bracers together to form its second form. The clicking of internal parts interlocking with his forearms began transforming the bracers into a laser cannon. He took aim at the Grimm, the beam charging up casting a red glow across the front of the weapon.

"Take this you overgrown newt!" Dale shouted, ready to fire the laser bolt before a long tongue suddenly shot out of the Stalker's mouth, wrapping around his arms and yanking them away from him before it swallowed them. "Oh, come on!" Dale cried in frustration as the Stalker charged him again. It didn't get far as a flash of yellow and silver landed on top of its head, driving two golden blades through its neck and severing the head from the body. As she straightened up, Riala noticed two slime-covered arms connected to a heavy laser cannon sitting where the disappearing body of the giant Grimm once sat.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not touching those." Riala apologized.

"Hey, as long as I'm not digesting with them inside that thing." Dale shrugged with a grin. "But seriously, I could use some help getting those back on."

* * *

"Hello?" Mave called as he walked along the forest floor. It had been almost twenty minutes since the students had been launched into the woods, and he hadn't seen a single fellow initiate or even a Grimm in the supposedly infested forest at all yet. "I'm certain I should've seen someone by now..." he thought before something heavy smacked him in the back, knocking him to the forest floor.

"Get up, idiot!"

He looked up to watch Iris dash past him, not even apologizing for being the cause of his fall. "What's the rush?" he called.

"That thing right behind us!" Albert explained as he ran past him as well, still not getting an answer. Looking back, Mave took note of the sudden sensation of shaking ground as something tore through the trees from where Al and Iris emerged from. What followed them out was a giant humanoid Grimm with massive fists and grotesque patches of lesions across its face and neck. The Beringel let out a loud roar as it pounded its chest in front of the downed Huntsman, who was now scrambling to get back to his feet and join the escape of the other two initiates as he they ran for their lives.

Across the treeline, Amber watched from the crosshares off her crossbow as the three were chased by the hulking primate through the brush. "I guess I found my partner..." she sighed as she prepared to jump down from her perch.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sooo..." Percy asked as he and Neo walked through the underbrush along with the girl he begrudgingly accepted as his partner. "...You know where we're headed, right?" The confused look the girl gave him only furthered his own confusion. "Yeah...I can't read you by facial expressions alone.

Rolling her heterochromatic eyes, she dislodged the voicebox on her parasol and held it to her throat. "You mean to tell me that I've been following you for fifteen minutes, and you have no idea where we are?" Neo asked. "There's a compass on your Scroll!"

"Yeah, well-" Percy replied, pulling his sparking, cracked handheld device in question from his pocket. "It kinda broke when someone fell on top of me, and I fell on top of a sharp rock!" he complained. "Why haven't you been using yours?"

Neo averted her eyes and muttered something as the hand holding her voicebox fell from her neck.

"Excuse me?" Percy asked.

"I said I left it in my bag, okay?" Neo announced. "So. What now?"

"Good question." Percy shrugged, still walking forward.

"Where are you going?" Neo asked as she came to a stop.

"We aren't going to find it just waiting around." he reminded. "Besides, I can hear fighting in the distance. That's gotta be the right direction."

Neo shifted her gaze to the direction the teen she begrudgingly called her partner was headed in. "Alright, then." she sighed, following them towards the forest.

* * *

After about 45 minutes of aimless wandering in the woods, three close encounters with Ursai, nearly getting stung to death by a swarm of rapier wasps whose nest Percy accidentally stepped on, and nearly wandering into a field teeming with Beowolves, Neo and Percy slumped against a tree trunk, exhausted, sweating, and covered in dirt, mud, and Grimm blood.

"Okay...that one...was your fault." Percy panted out as the multi-colored girl gave him a flabbergasted look.

"MY fault?" Neo asked, her voice raised in anger. "You were the one who thought it would be a good idea to follow that shadow!"

"Hey, how the hell was I supposed to know it was a Boarbatusk?" Percy asked in his defense.

"Oh, I don't know." Neo shrugged, her voice taking on a sarcastic inflection. "Maybe the fact it was too short to be a human or Faunus, had hooves, tusks, glowing red eyes, and it turned out to be a fucking Boarbatusk!"

"You could've said something you know!"

"It's kinda hard to run while pointing a voicebox at your neck at the same time!"

"Yeah, well, maybe don't lose your real one next time!"

Neo's eyes went white and pink as she snapped. The manner in how she lost her voice in the first place was already a sensitive subject to the girl, but blaming everything that happened in the past hour on that did it. In a flash, Neo had the blade of her parasol pointed at Percy's neck, the blue-haired boy pressed fully against the tree as the edge of the blade tapped against his Adam's apple. "Woah, woah, woah! What the hell are you doing?" he choked out, freaked out of his mind at the moment. He kept his hand up, showing he wasn't doing anything in hopes of not getting his throat slit.

The insane look on Neo's face suddenly faded as her both her eyes turned white and a horrified look to match Percy's on her face. Her hand faltered and she dropped the handle to her blade. "What...am I doing?" she asked herself in shock as she backed up, slumping against another tree behind them.

Percy bolted upright as soon as her sword dropped and he brought a hand to his neck, breathing a sigh of relief that there wasn't blood on his palm when he removed it. "You stay away from me." he ordered, walking briskly away. "Crazy bitch..."

This wasn't what Neo wanted at all. She took Ozpin's offer to attend Beacon to get away from that sort of life, and she almost resorted back to it by taking Percy's. She sat there, head in her hands as silent sobs came over her. The only thing that snapped her out of her fear of herself was the sound of crackling branches overhead. She turned her head upwards to the source, expecting a flying Grimm swooping down to kill her.

"Hey. Neo, right?" Amber asked as she hopped down from the branches she was climbing on. "You alright?"

* * *

"Hmmm..." Ozpin mumbled to himself, having watched the entire altercation from a drone hovering above where Neo sat as Amber joined her. Perhaps getting her situated into the life of a Huntress and out of one as an assassin would be harder than he anticipated.

"We have some students arriving at the objective point already." Glynda announced looking at her Scroll. On her screen, Riala and Dale had walked out of the treeline and up to the temple. The site was obviously staged for the exercise. The Bullhead was landed, rather than crashed, and scattered close behind it were crates filled with artifacts standing in front of the ruins. "I see only two initiates haven't made contact: Amber Sol and Maverick Orchid. That's our last group by default."

"Very good then." Ozpin nodded, his eyes not leaving his Scroll as he continued watching separate feeds of Neo talking about her side of the events that had just happened, and Percy on another feed storming through the forest.

"Ozpin, you sound troubled over something. Is there a problem?" his aide and best friend asked.

"Nothing that can't be handled at a later time, Glynda." he sighed, lowering his device. "I found Miss Sol on my end moving to the objective from the west. What about Mister Orchid?"

"Let me check." she answered, swiping through her different camera feeds to find the student in question through the multitude of drone feeds. "Oh dear. It seems he and another group have attracted the attention of a Beringel."

"Is that so?" Ozpin asked, looking over her shoulder to watch Maverick, Iris, and Albert get chased through the forest by the beast. "Those types of Grimm are very rare this close to the kingdom."

"Should we intervene? When one happened upon the forest during the initiation three years ago..." Glynda reminded.

"That Beringel three years ago was much larger and possibly more experienced." Ozpin reminded. "And this time, it's not up against just one person."

"Very well..." Glynda nodded hesitantly. "But if they cannot stop it, I will not hesitate to suspend the exercise and send in an upperclassman team to eliminate it while we extract the first-years."

"I don't expect you not to." Ozpin nodded in return. "I'll make sure Team CFVY is on standby in that event." he nodded as he returned to looking over his Scroll on the cliffside. "Although for some, I don't think it's another team's help they need."


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright, I think I've put enough distance between me and that crazy short chick." Percy muttered as he walked through the underbrush. He looked up to the sky, a glimpse of the afternoon sun shining through the trees above him a telltale sign he had little time to find a relic, make it back to the cliffs, and secure his spot at the academy. "I'm pretty sure I don't have enough time to find another partner." he thought out loud as he wandered about, not noticing the fallen branch in his way.

With a yelp, Percy lost his balance and began rolling down a steep and rocky hill into a clearing surrounded by rocks and broken stone columns. He landed hard on the cracked stone floor of what was once some sort of temple, crumbled by the decades worth of erosion from the elements, and judging the few claw marks scattered throughout the ruin, Grimm as well. "Gah, dammit!" Percy cursed as he rubbed his head, taking a nice bump to it as he landed. Looking up, he took in his surroundings, noticing an odd-looking white pan leaning up against a large rock near the slope he fell down. "Hey, that's gotta be a relic!" Percy smiled excitedly, looking around for more, but not seeing any. "Everyone else must've gotten one already. Better hurry back!" he thought, briskly walking over and reaching down to pick up the plate.

As he reeled his arm back in, he was surprised that the plate didn't come with it. "The hell? Come on you sonova-" Percy grumbled, now pulling at it with both hands to no avail. Starting to strain himself as he put more muscle into pulling this plate from the rock it was stuck to, he let go and fell backwards as he suddenly felt the ground start to tremble. Getting back up, his eyes widened as the 'plate' and the rock it was stuck to began floating, a multitude of red, glowing veins originating from the center and spreading across the stone. Looking around, he watched in awe as more rocks and chunks of the ruin around him began levitating and attaching themselves to the plated rock, which the brash boy now started to think wasn't a plate after all.

"Uh oh..." was all he could say as it took its final form.

* * *

"...Well, that's...quite the backstory." Amber muttered as Neo finished explaining herself towards them.

"And now you know my secret too." Neo sighed, wiping her now white eyes. She had shown her true colors to now two people, let it slip that she was once a killer. "I can only imagine what you think of me now." she whimpered, hugging her legs tighter to her body as she sat under the tree she had been beneath since Percy left.

She looked up in surprise, one eye going pink as she felt Amber reach down and place a hand on her shoulder. "So you have a dark past, is that all?" Amber asked.

"W-What?" Neo responded, unsure where this was going.

"Neo, you said it yourself. You defected to the Huntsmen before Vale got attacked. You're remorseful of the things you did, both past and present. I can tell." Amber explained. "We've all done things we regret, but Ozpin said it himself: that's all in the past. Beacon's our fresh start, and this is a chance for you to put that life behind you for good." She explained, pulling her hand from Neo's shoulder and offering her a hand back up. "Now, how about we go find Percy and get you two an artifact?"

Neo wiped her eyes once more as they returned to brown and pink, taking Amber's offer and being pulled to her feet. "What makes you think he'll forgive me?" she asked, bringing her voicebox up to her neck.

"He may be an ass, but nobody is truly unforgiving." the redhead reasoned. "Just apologize and I think..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Amber was cut off as a high pitched scream echoed through the trees. "What was that?" Amber asked.

"I think some girl is in trouble!" Neo gasped as the two started running towards the noise. As they did, a blue blur flashed past them.

"RUN THE OTHER WAY, IDIOTS!" Percy called back as he sprinted the opposite way the two girls were running.

"Percy?" Amber called before a sudden rumbling sensation came from underfoot. They looked in the direction Percy was running from. As the ground's shaking began to increase in intensity, they could hear a rhythmic pounding, as if something enormous was running towards them. They could look to the treetops to see the same something moving their massive trunks aside to make its way through the forest.

Not wanting to stick around to figure out what was chasing Percy, the two girls turned back around and continued running back the other way, just in time too as the Petra Gigas crushed underfoot the ground they once stood on.

* * *

Riala and Dale walked down a dirt path out of the marsh and into a large clearing.

"Damn, I still got mud and lizard spit in my arm joints." Dale complained as he tried once more to shake the obstruction in his prosthetics free.

"Forget that, and look up for a second!" Riala pointed out.

"What?" Dale asked, looking to where the silver-haired girl was pointing. Ahead of them in the center of the clearing was an ancient ruin with a Bullhead airship "crashed" in front of it. The scene was staged for the exercise obviously, as the ship seemed unscathed and looked to be landed perfectly on its landing gear and stable ground. Around it, crates surrounded the ship. Some were opened, and as the two walked around to investigate them, empty. "This is definitely the place." he nodded.

"Let's grab something and go then." Riala said as she started shimmying one of her swords into the opening of a locked crate. With a huff, she cut the lock open, only to be blinded by the sun shining on the object inside. Upon getting over the blinding reflection, she noticed it was a very polished railroad spike made of solid gold. There was an inscription marked into the metal, but being in a dead Vacuan language, she couldn't make it out as she picked it up and inspected it. "The last thing I want to do is end up fighting more Grimm."

"I dunno." Dale shrugged. "I've always wanted to fight something big, like an Ursa or a Nevermore."

"Or...maybe one of those?" Riala pointed out, looking at something behind the bionic boy. Dale turned to see three of their friends, Albert, Iris, and Mave, charging out of the brush, a Beringel hot on their tails, roaring all the like. "Or maybe that?" she repeated, now pointing in a different direction as Neo, Amber, and Percy being chased out of a forest by a Petra Gigas .

"What the-" Dale thought, looking between the two groups.

"Careful what you wish for there, Dale." Riala sighed as she placed the railroad spike in her jacket's inner pocket.

"GUYS! GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Albert hollered as they got within earshot, spinning around as he grabbed his weapon, a large sledgehammer, and swung it upwards into the ape-like Grimm's jaw, sending it flying overhead ahead of them. It landed mere feet in front of Dale, letting out a roar in his face that sprayed his tanned face in spittle.

"I'm really getting tired of getting covered in Grimm bodily fluids today!" Dale growled as he threw another punch in its face. This hit sent the Beringel back the way it came.

"Are we really playing Pong with a Grimm?" Iris asked as she threw both legs into a kick, sending it stumbling back, right into a pair of golden blades head first that went right through its eyes before she ripped them apart. "Guess not anymore."

"...You guys were running from that? Really?" Riala criticized, having killed the beast in one strike.

"Hey, that thing took a pummelin' from me and Iris before we got here!" Albert retorted.

"That's well good and all, but what about that thing?" Maverick announced, pointing as the other three ran towards them with the Petra Gigas bearing down on them. Not waiting for an answer from the four students surrounding him, Maverick stepped forward as he slung his weapon off off his shoulder, a dark purple battering ram almost as tall as he was. With tremendous force, he drove it into the ground as a fissure glowing with purple energy shot towards them. It bypassed Neo, Amber, and Percy and stopped as it touched the stomping foot of the monolithic Grimm behind them. The three looked back as the deafening stomps suddenly stopped, and found the monster chasing them suspended and stunned in a sort of gravity well originating from the fissure Mave had created.

"Hell yeah! Nice timing, Mave!" Percy cheered as the three would-be prey of the Grimm made it to the group.

"You have some explaining to do as to why you were being chased by that." Mave shrugged as he rose back to full height.

"Yeah, I'll tell you once we're back at the school." Percy waived it off. "Right now, I think you and I have a thingy to find and coll-"

"Not so fast there, Percy." Amber interrupted. "I think Neo here's the first person you made contact with, right? She's your partner."

Percy stopped in his tracks with a huff. "You kidding? The last thing I want is to be stuck next to a psycho for the next four years!" he sneered. "I'll take my chances with someone I know isn't gonna slit my throat during an argument."

"Do what now?" Dale asked, looking between the two as Neo pulled out her voicebox.

"Look, Percy, I want to apologize. It was wrong of me to snap and lose my cool like that, but like it or not, we're partners now." Neo stated. "But to be honest, you started it."

"What?" Percy yelped in shock. "You stick your blade to my neck and I"M the one in the wrong?"

"Percy, accept her apology and say you're sorry." Maverick ordered quietly.

"Cripes, you too, Mave!? I ain't apologizing for-" Percy protested before his friend's massive hand grabbed him by his shirt and pinned him to the dropship.

"Listen, Percy." he started in a threatening tone. "I don't know what's gotten into you or what happened out in the forest, but I don't care. You've been rude to everybody, including me, since we landed here, and I'm getting sick of it. So if you want to stay my friend, you'll accept Neo's olive branch and apologize, or I'm shoving you under that thing and dropping the well! Got it?"

In a stunned silence, Percy just nodded rapidly as Maverick let him go, dropping to his knees. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry for being a dick all day, alright?" Percy stammered. "Now let's grab one of those crates and get outta here before that thing breaks free!" he said, pointing to the Petra Gigas struggling in Mave's trap of a semblance.

"Thank you, Percy." Neo smiled as she walked over to an unopened crate next to the one Riala and Dale opened, slashing the lock open with her parasol's sword. Reaching inside, she pulled out an odd metal sphere the size of a tennis ball, covered in orange markings and with a divot in the top that was capped off with a cast iron stopper.

"Yeah, let's grab ours too." Iris nodded to Albert as she walked over and shattered a crate with her tonfas. Underneath its remnants was a railroad spike identical to the one Riala had on her person.

"And that makes us a duo by default, Mave." Amber smiled as she opened her own crate, producing a metal ball like the one Neo found. Just as each of them secured the artifacts in a pouch or pocket on their person, the gravity well began to falter, the massive Grimm inside breaking free much more successfully now.

"Uh...I think it's about time we left." Dale pointed out as he started backing up away from the Petra Gigas.

"I'm inclined to agree." Maverick nodded as the eight began running just in time. The Petra Gigas broke free, and with a growl, swatted one of its rocky arms down upon the ground they stood on. The shockwave sent each of them and the parked dropship tumbling as they all readied their weapons on the recovery. Iris and Amber nodded to each other and began circling the Grimm from a distance, Iris skating around it as her tonfas fired submachine gun rounds towards it, and Amber dodging another swipe as she shot a Dust-laiden crossbow bolt at it, striking the left shoulder and sending a bolt of electricity harmlessly through its arm.

Meanwhile, as the arm that missed Amber retracted, Riala jumped onto it, slashing her swords across its length before interlocking the hilts and trying to wedge the now naginata she wielded into the joint between its arm and torso in failure as she was shrugged off, but her blades still remained in the crack. "My weapon!" she shouted as she landed in a crouch behind it.

"I got it!" Percy called back, drawing his axe off his back as it transformed in his hand into a single shot grenade launcher. With a bomb he loaded from inside his pocket, he fired it off at the shoulder, the impact from the explosion knocking the beast off balance and loosening the blades that Riala caught as it dropped to its knees. Together, Albert and Maverick charged it, the two striking the weak spot at the same time and breaking its arm off.

"Nice one, guys!" Dale cheered, but his cheer was too soon as a dark red glyph formed on the side of the Petra Gigas the two larger boys had just struck. From it, a blackened bony arm reached out, grabbing pieces of the dropship it destroyed and forming a mallet out of the engine and chunks of the wing it began swatting away most of the group with.

"His fist is a freaking engine now!" Percy shouted.

"Not a problem!" Albert called as he flipped a switch on the handle of his sledgehammer. Three vents on the side of the head opened, and a nozzel poked out from the top. As he took aim at the new arm their opponent had crafted, a torrent of flame spewed from Al's weapon, heating the fuel still inside the jet engine and causing it to explode. Just as they thought they had done it again, the Petra Gigas moved out of the cloud of smoke with the metal arm now engulfed in flame.

"Well, now that's a problem!" Iris shouted as she dodged a rock hurled at her face by the Grimm.

"Just keep it up everyone! We gotta stop this thing before it hurts anyone else out here!" Riala announced.

"How are we supposed to do that when it just keeps rebuilding itself?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, the only hit we landed on it blew off one arm, but it took Mave and Al combined to do it!" Percy agreed.

"Then we hit it where it's weakest!" Neo suggested as she sprinted towards the beast. "Cover me!"

With a nod, Amber and Iris went back to giving supporting fire with crossbow bolts and gunfire, Percy firing off a few more grenades towards its feet and around it to keep it in place. Using her acrobatics, Neo jumped around the Petra Gigas, prodding multiple times with her parasol's blade to find any weak spots. Just when she thought she gave up, she figured it out. As she used her illusionary semblance to dodge a strike from its remaining rock arm and slashed across its face, causing the titan to reel back and onto the defensive.

"I got it! Aim for the face!" Neo shouted as it stood back up.

"But that rock it's on is the densest part of it." Iris pointed out. "Nothing we got could break through it.

"Ah know one thing." Albert thought as his eyes shifted towards Dale. "D, ya still got charges on Sunset Limited?"

With a nod, Dale slammed his prosthetic arms together, the bracers around them forming the same laser he almost fired a shot off earlier. "Just keep it in place while I charge this thing!"

"Got it!" Maverick nodded as he tapped a button on the handle of his battering ram. The head folded up and away as it revealed a huge hole that the young Huntsman in training aimed at the legs of the beast, firing off a rocket that blew one leg off, but it kept hobbling towards them anyway, throwing the rocks that made up its left arm all the while.

Folding in the parts of her crossbow, Amber's weapon converted into a pickaxe and began swatting and breaking through the smaller stones while Albert and his hammer broke down the big ones. Once the volley ended, Riala stepped forward and swung both her swords in a fanning motion towards it. As her semblance activated, each swipe of the sword became the equivalent of a hurricane force wind, and slowed the monster down even more as Dale's cannon finally charged. "Ready yet?" she called back once it came to a stop.

"Now! Get down!" Dale nodded as the other seven dropped to the ground in cover. They winced as a loud pssssshew sounded out throughout the clearing to match a bright red beam of energy fired off from Dales arms and completely melting through the body of the Petra Gigas, who's remains of its body fell back to earth with a series of thuds.

"WHOO!" Albert cheered. "Nice shot, buddy!"

"It's not over yet!" Riala pointed as a black shadow melted out from the pile of rubble, taking form into an elongated teardrop with bony arms and a deep cut across its face from Neo's slash earlier. The Geist let out a shriek and rocketed towards them. Riala tried to swipe at it, only to be stiff-armed out of the way. Albert and Mave were also knocked aside, as was Iris as she tried to intercept it as it passed the two larger guys. Amber tried taking aim and firing an arrow towards it, only for the ethereal Grimm to catch the bolt and snap it between its fingers. Finally raising a clawed hand towards Dale, who cocked back an arm to throw a punch its way, it squealed inhumanely in pain as Neo suddenly slashed its arm off. In retaliation, the clawed hand was sung in her direction and sent her sprawling onto the ground with the wind knocked out of her, her Aura fluctuating visibly as well.

"Neo!" Amber and Maverick called out as the Geist brought its remaining arm down on her, ready to strike the final blow, but it never came. Neo looked up to see Percy standing over her, his axe head embedded in the Geist's face and still going until its head was cleaved in half. At that point, both halves fell to the ground next to the diminutive girl and dispelled in a cloud of black smoke.

"Percy?" Neo spoke in surprise as she looked up.

"...Next time, go for a killshot that just slicing an arm off...Partner." he shrugged, offering a hand to pull Neo to her feet. Accepting it, she kept a grip afterwards, shaking it, a gesture Percy genuinely returned with a light smirk.

"Great, we're all friends again. Now, another problem." Iris pointed out back to the other side of the clearing. The sounds of their battle had attracted attention, and not the good kind. A massive grouping of Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and Ursai charged the eight of them, and there were too many for the now tired group to fend off by themselves.

"Wait, look!" Maverick pointed out towards the sky as a dropship flew in and landed between them and the charging Grimm. As the doors opened, they saw a single young woman with rabbit ears looking their way as three others got out the other end and began shredding through the Grimm with blades and a rather large minigun.

"Come on! We'll take you all back to the school!" Velvet called as the eight ran into the dropship. "They're all in, Coco!" she then called back over the gunfire and screams of dying creatures of Grimm.

"Let's head back home, boys!" Coco announced as Fox and Yatsuhashi retreated back into the aircraft, the leader of CFVY giving covering fire until they were off the ground and back in the air. Once the doors closed, Coco folded her weapon back into its tote bag form and looked over the eight new students. "So...You rookies are the ones Ozpin said were fighting a Geist?" she asked, tilting her shades down to look them each in the eye.

"It's...a long story, Coco." Neo spoke up.

"Wait, you know her?" Percy asked.

"And that's an even longer one." Neo responded.

* * *

 **One Hour Later...**

"...Next, we have Riala Zephyr, Dale Light, Albert Ghenny, and Iris Shinkansen." Ozpin announced as the auditorium crowd's applause died down, and another team stepped down from the podium to make room for the four initiates.

"The four of you returned with these two golden spikes." Ozpin continued. "These resemble ingenuity, hard work, and most importantly of all, unity. I expect you to show all those traits in these coming years."

"We will, sir." Albert nodded.

"Very good." Ozpin smiled as he placed the spikes down on the podium he stood next to. "From here on out, you will be known as Team RAIL, led by...Riala Zephyr."

The crowd went into an uproar of applause once again as all eyes went to Riala, who seemed genuinely surprised to be chosen as team leader.

"W-wow, really?" Riala asked, obviously flabbergasted.

"Indeed. Congratulations, miss." Ozpin nodded as the screen above them faded to the final four candidates, and the newly-formed Team RAIL stepped off to the side. As the new team took their place, they could hear a murmur from them as they stepped up.

"I'm tellin' ya, Mave! I'm a shoo-in for leader!" Percy excitedly whispered.

"You're sure you have it locked down?" Maverick asked his diminutive friend.

"Duh! Who was the one to get the killing blow on that Gheist again? Oh, that's right: me!" Percy boasted. "I wonder what they'll name my team. Panama? Panem? P-Man, short for my name?"

"He's certainly the arrogant one." Amber whispered to Neo as they were the final two to step up to the stage, magically getting a note in her hand from the shorter girl that read "You have no idea."

A clearing of a throat brought their attention back to the headmaster. "Finally, we have Neo Politan, Percival Von Winkle, Amber Sol, and Maverick Orchid." He announced, before producing the two metal balls the four had found. "Each of you recovered quite a destructive item: a firebomb. This device, if it were not disarmed, when used to its maximum efficiency, could cover a whole city block in fire." He explained, almost marveling the ordinance.

"Tell me something I don't know." Percy thought aloud, only to get elbowed in his side by Amber.

"Still, as destructive as it is, fire represents something else in many cultures: life." Ozpin added. "And just as ancient civilizations protected fire from the elements, so must Huntsman protect civilization from the elements that would otherwise result in our extinction. From here on out, you four will be known as Team NAPM." he finished, pronouncing it as "napalm".

"Wait a sec. That doesn't start with a P or W." Percy thought before he put two and two together. "Wait, NO-"

"...led by Neo Politan." Ozpin finished. Neo just looked around in amazement.

"Nice one, Neo. You earned it." Amber congratulated.

Neo nodded back, still unsure what to say as Maverick and the newly-formed Team RAIL simply applauded them with the audience, out of which, Neo could see Team RWBY clapping for her save for Yang, who gave her a simple two thumbs up. She finally broke into a smile and waived towards them with some newfound confidence. Maybe things were going to be much better this year after all.

* * *

In the streets of Vale that night was a much different event. In an alleyway by the docks, the metallic scent of blood filled the air. A dozen bodies covered in stab wounds and bullet holes littered the area, some hanging out of the cars parked around them for what was supposed to be a routine drug deal. Only one survivor remained, the dealer. His buyer and posse dead from whoever the hell slaughtered them like animals, he tried to crawl away, even with blood flowing freely from his wounded leg and the punctured lung from a stabbing causing him to wheeze and cough up blood.

A sudden sound of slow footsteps from behind him put the dealer into a panic, trying to crawl away faster as he heard a subliminal mumbling coming from the same source as the steps.

 _"Dark from fear of failure..._

 _And in a gloom as wide as an eye and fermenting..."_

He paused as he folded in the large black umbrella he held.

 _"Roiling hate..._

 _Death grip in my veins..."_

A tap on the gripped handle followed by a twist of it, and he began producing a rapier from the central pole.

 _"Unveiling rancid petals..._

 _Flowering forth foul nectar..."_

The dealer coughed hard as he felt a foot flip him over and stomp on his chest. As he opened his eyes, he watched in horror as a pale man in a dark grey trench coat and matching, wide-brimmed hat leveled his blade with the dealer's throat.

 _"Space between a blink and a tear..."_

"H-Hey! Wait-" the dealer begged before the tip of the blade was unceremoniously jabbed into his neck. The killer watched as his victim's eyes glazed over and let out one last breath before retracting the sword.

"Death blooms."

* * *

 **Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years!**

 **Man, have I missed working on this fic! I finally got to wrap up Neo's initiation and then some after months of work on other things! I've missed you readers as well too; don't think I haven't forgotten about you even though you probably forgot this was a thing. Considering I put some time into yet ANOTHER side project to Broken Home (Which I want to get back to finishing, I really do), I figured I get a huge chunk out of the way with this one. So, yeah. We now got Neo and her team made up, as well as some new friends and maybe a new enemy? Wait and see! Be sure to give this a like, follow, and/or comment, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**


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